Novel gold catalysts for the direct conversion of ethanol into C3+ hydrocarbons

► Conversion of ethanol to C3+ hydrocarbons on the Au, NiO, Au + NiO clusters. ► By decreasing the size of the Au from 15.1 to 5 nm, the TOFs increased from 0.095 to 0.384 s−1. ► The sensitivity between structure of gold-contained particles and selectivity was found. ► The peculiarities of the reaction mechanism are discussed.